Sous Vide Lobster Recipe

If buttery, tender, sweet poached flavor is what you're after, there's no better way to cook it than sous vide. It's also a heck of a lot more foolproof than boiling or steaming, and affords the opportunity to infuse that lobster meat with extra flavor. Think: lobster with the butter built right into it. Doesn't that sound swell?

Sous Vide Lobster Cooking Temperatures

120°F (49°C)

Soft and translucent

130°F (54°C)

Tender and succulent

140°F (60°C)

Close to traditional steamed-lobster texture

Why It Works

Sous vide cooking guarantees tender, moist, succulent results.

Butter and tarragon flavor get built right into the lobster meat.

Parboiling the lobster makes it easy to remove the meat from the shell.

Directions

Kill each lobster by plunging a knife directly into its head, splitting its carapace in half. Twist off the tail and claws. Discard carapace or save for stock.

2.

Lay tails flat against a cutting board and insert two stiff wooden or metal skewers along the length of the tails, keeping as close to the shell as possible.

3.

Prepare an ice bath. Bring a large pot of water or a steamer to a rolling boil. Add lobster tails and claws and cook for 1 minute. Remove tails with tongs and transfer to ice bath. Continue cooking claws for 4 minutes longer, then transfer to ice bath.

4.

Shuck lobster tails by first squeezing sides of shell inward until they crack. Pull sides of shell outward. The shell should open up easily. Remove tail meat and set aside.

5.

To remove claw meat, break off the small pincer, being careful to get the meat out of it. Using kitchen shears or the spine of a heavy knife, crack bottom of shell to create an opening large enough to extract the meat. Carefully remove claw meat by shaking shell up and down, or by using the back of a wooden skewer to slide it out.

6.

To remove knuckle meat, snip open shells with kitchen shears and use the back of a wooden skewer to remove meat. If knuckles are especially spiky, use a kitchen towel to help grasp them.

7.

Using a sous vide precision cooker, preheat a water bath to desired temperature according to the chart above.

8.

Place meat in a heavy-duty zipper-lock bag or a vacuum bag. Add 2 tablespoons (30g) butter and tarragon sprigs. Remove all air from bag using the water displacement method or a vacuum sealer.

9.

Add bagged meat to water bath and cook for at least 20 minutes and up to 1 hour.

Special Equipment

Notes

If you can't get live lobsters, frozen lobster tails will work as well. Serve 1 1/2 to 2 lobster tails per person, depending on the size of the tails. Skip step 1 and any directions pertaining to claws or knuckles.

This Recipe Appears In

J. Kenji López-Alt is the Chief Culinary Advisor of Serious Eats, and author of the James Beard Award-nominated column The Food Lab, where he unravels the science of home cooking. A restaurant-trained chef and former Editor at Cook's Illustrated magazine, his first book, The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science is a New York Times Best-Seller, the recipient of a James Beard Award, and was named Cookbook of the Year in 2015 by the International Association of Culinary Professionals.

He's currently raising a daughter by day, writing his second book by night (Now with 10% more science!), and is working on Wursthall, a beer hall in downtown San Mateo which will be open by the end of 2017.

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